Steve McCurry Life o f a n A r t i s t Research Task for Photographic and Digital Media by Apollonia Zivanovic
SSALCRETSAM
“A picture can express a universal humanism, or simply reveal a delicate and poignant truth by exposing a slice of life that might otherwise pass unnoticed.� Steve McCurry
“My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport.” Steve McCurry
Content of Research Task 05
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INTRODUCTION
A portrait of the photographer Steve McCurry
CHAPTER ONE – ABOUT THE ARTIST
Short biography about the early life, early photographic career, and recent work
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CHAPTER TWO – EXHIBITIONS, AWARDS, BOOKS, IMAGINE ASIA FOUNDATION
Exhibitions, awards, publications and non-profit organisation
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ImagineAsia
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CHAPTER THREE – AFGHAN GIRL
Visual study of McCurry's most iconic and intriguing image
CHAPTER FOUR – DUST STORM
Visual study of Dust Storm, Rajasthan
CHAPTER FIVE – DESIGN & COMPOSITION
The use of the principles of design and compositional devices in Steve McCurry's works
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CHAPTER SIX – PROLOGUE
Arresting beauty and haunted polarity of Steve McCurry's art
Introduction
ABOUT THE ARTIST Universally renowned as one of the outstanding photographers of our days, Steve McCurry is best known for his redolent pictures. Following the
principles
documentary
of
photojournalism
photography,
he
is
and most
celebrated for catching through his lenses the essence of both human strife and jubilations, great glory and deep despair, love and loss, life and death.
Almost all of his images have
become modern photographic icons. Steve McCurry was born 1950 in Philadelphia. Having travelled the globe for over forty years, McCurry has photographed warzones, burning oil fields, refugee camps, ship-breaking yards and natural disasters all over the world. He is one of the most well known photographers of Magnum Photos and their member since 1986. McCurry, who attended Penn State University, originally planned to study cinematography and filmmaking, but instead gained a degree in
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theatre arts and graduated in 1974. He became interested in photography when he started taking pictures for the Penn State newspaper The Daily Collegian. After a year working in India, McCurry travelled to Northern Pakistan where he met two Afghans who told him about the war across the border in Afghanistan. McCurry's career was launched when he crossed the Pakistan border
into
rebel-controlled
areas
of
Afghanistan just before the Soviet invasion. “As soon as I crossed the border, I came across about 40 houses and a few schools that were just bombed out,” he says. He left with rolls of film and these images were subsequently published by The New York Times, Time and Paris Match and won him The Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad. Over the next three decades McCurry travelled the world, seeking the most important places from which to report stories. McCurry has covered many areas of international and civil conflict, including Burma, Sri Lanka, Beirut, Cambodia, the Philippines, the Gulf War, and the former Yugoslavia.
Instead of photographing combat, McCurry tends to focus on the human cost of war, often producing arresting portraits and figure studies. He focuses on the human consequences of war, not only showing what war impresses on the landscape, but also on the faces of its victims. Instead of photographing combat, McCurry tends to focus on the human cost of war, often producing arresting portraits and figure studies. He focuses on the human consequences of war, not only showing what war impresses on the landscape, but also on the faces of its victims. McCurry’s work has been featured in every major magazine in the world and frequently appears in National Geographic magazine with recent articles on Tibet, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and the temples of Angkor Wat, Cambodia. A high point in his career was the rediscovery
of
the
previously
unidentified
Afghan refugee girl. When McCurry finally located Sharbat Gula. “After almost two decades,” he said, “her skin is weathered; there are wrinkles now, but she is as striking as she was all those years ago.” McCurry’s coverage of the September 11th attacks in 2001 have become a key document of
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the events, and is a testament to the heroism and
nobility of the people of New York City.
McCurry’s photographs of Ground Zero were published in New York September 11th, by
Magnum Photographers. His photograph of the
collapse on the North Tower was used as the front cover.
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EXHIBITIONS, AWARDS AND BOOKS
McCurry is the recipient of numerous awards, including Magazine Photographer of the Year, awarded by the National Press Photographers’ Association in 1984. In the same year, he won an unprecedented four first prizes in the World Press Photo Contest. He has also twice won the Olivier Rebbot Memorial Award. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world, including Germany, Italy, Mexico and the United States of America. McCurry
has
published
books
including
The
Imperial
Way, Monsoon, Portraits, South Southeast, Sanctuary, The Path to Buddha: A Tibetan Pilgrimage, Steve McCurry, Looking East: Portraits, In the Shadow of Mountains, The Unguarded Moment, The Iconic Photographs, Steve McCurry Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs, From These Hands: A Journey Along the Coffee Trail.
HUMANITY AND MISSIONS – IMAGINE ASIA In 2004 Steve McCurry and his sister co-founded ImagineAsia, a non-profit organisation, to help bring opportunities and education to children in Afghanistan. The mission of ImagineAsia is to work in partnership with local community leaders and regional non-governmental organisation to help provide educational resources and opportunities to children in Afghanistan. “I started this nonprofit endeavour with family and friends.”
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ASIL ANOM DERRACS-RAW EHT – LRIG NAHGFA
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Afghan Girl, 1984 When National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry and author Debra Denker arrived in Afghanistan in the early summer of 1984, they were given a tour of Afghanistan’s “war-torn frontier.” During their stay, they came across many refugee camps scattered along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. One particular refugee camp harboured a twelve year old girl, later known to the world as “The Afghan Girl”, whose eyes were destined to become the symbol of the refugees running from their war-ravaged countries, looking for a safe haven. For many years she was a symbol with no name and story. Her name is Sharbat Gula. Her parents were killed during a Soviet bombing when she was six. Her grandmother led her and her siblings on foot to a refugee camp in Pakistan during the dead of winter. They hid in caves during the day and begged for spare blankets to survive the harsh winter cold. Gula had been living in this particular refugee camp for about six years before National Geographic made its appearance. McCurry was mesmerised by Gula’s bright eyes, despite her haggard appearance. It took him days of coaxing to finally convince the shy, wary Gula to allow him to take her photograph.
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When studying the image of the Afghan Girl,
We've seen the use of this composition in the
Sharbat doesn't appear like a typical twelve year
paintings of the Renaissance's Masters like
old girl. One can't tell if it projects fear or
Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael's portraits, and
anger.
also later in the works of the Dutch Masters.
The tensed expression in her eyes
counterbalance the youth of her face. She has seen more in her twelve years of life than most
That's why The Afghan Girl incredibly
people will in their lifetimes. However, the
reminds us of the Girl with a Pearl Earring by
fear displayed in her eyes is still bound with
Johannes Vermeer.
resistance. Sharbat is part of the Pashtun tribe,
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one of the most fierce, warlike Afghan tribes.
Have you ever looked at a person in a portrait
According to National Geographic, “[the
and felt as if he or she is staring right back at
Pashtun] are only at peace when they are at war”.
you? No matter where you go, the eyes are
This explains why her piercing eyes are
stalking you? That's the feel we get from the
projecting so much mixed emotions like fear
Steve McCurry's photo of Sharbat. The image
and anger.
catches the viewers with her hypnotising gaze.
This photo is unique and even controversial for
With the use Golden Triangle composition,
many reasons. According to Muslim tradition,
McCurry makes her presence very intimate. He
a woman cannot tell a stranger her name,
has achieved it by creating a frame in the
uncover her face or let alone look him in the
frame. First frame is the actual crop of the
eye, making it difficult to find photographs of
image filled with her face (Close Up Camera
women during this time. Sharbat, however,
Shot). The second frame is achieved by the use
looked straight into the camera, showing her
of the girl's headscarf which makes her stand
blatant defiance.
out even more from the surrounding. It is also contrasted by the colour of the out of focus
But for every viewer that appreciates the art of
background. These frames and layers of colour
photography, this image is a masterpiece on it's
become kind of a visual concentric water
own
ripples which draw our eyes right back at the
merits.
We
are
looking
at
the
photographic genius and intuition of Steve
stare of this young girl.
McCurry - lit by natural daylight, plain composition with the main object filling the
Her expression makes us think as if someone
frame. Some photography connoisseurs might
caught her by surprise. We can see her anger,
argue if this portrait is a Medium Close Up or
we can feel her discomfort. There is a rich
just a Classic Close Up.
mixture of emotions displayed – her lacerating eyes are wide open as if they are cutting right
One thing is for sure – it is the classic
through our souls.
composition of an intimate portrait when the photographer/artist wants us to look right into
Once seen, this photo will stay forever branded
the eyes of his object and to show the viewer
in the mind of the viewer. Sharbat's image is
the soul of this person. This composition is
not only the symbol of the refugees in a war-
also known as the Golden Triangle where the
torn countries. This portrait heightened what
top of the girl's head is the top point of the
was the undeniable talent of Steve McCurry to
triangle, and her shoulders represent the
tell emotive, powerful, soul-stirring visual
bottom two points of the triangle.
stories with a simple snap.
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NOOSNOM EHT ROF GNITIAW
through endless world conflicts or extreme natural disasters
Steve McCurry's job took him from one corner of the world to another,
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Dust Storm, Rajasthan, India 1983
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When I first saw the image Dust Storm, Rajasthan, I was left with that strong sense as if I can physically feel the place and the air. Even more, I was surprised by the enormous beauty of the combination and existence of things that usually are clashing and incompatible. It is a very stunning image, laced with lots of broken rules of photographic composition and yet, it makes the image look even greater. Firstly the image is a group portrait. Group portraits usually are taken in landscape mode. However, Steve McCurry makes impulsive decision to turn the camera around and to frame it in a portrait style. Another broken rule is that unlike other portraits, this one doesn't have an eye contact, yet we still feel strong connection. Combined with the use of high camera angle, it instantly changes the perspective and the feelings that are visually conveyed. This is a centred composition and has double impact on the viewer - when using portrait mode, the attention is drawn to the circle of people clustered around each other, rather than the viewer marvelling at the unusual looking landscape. The use of high camera angle puts more weight on that effect, as its use creates impression of people being trapped, looking vulnerable, weak and inferior. The shape of circle reoccurs in many ways with the major circle defined by the bright red group of women and continues to echo with the presence of the water-vessels lying on the ground. I think that in this instance McCurry was reacting intuitively to the presented situation and he did not ponder much on how to compose. My guess is that right then and there all years of photographic experience took over. To me this image was not calculated, but it was felt and empathised. The horizon vanishes in dust cloud and by the elevated camera angle; the barren earth is in full view; the fruitless trees are ghostly and spooky. We can feel the dry air and smell the dust. And right in the middle of it are the most bright and colourful group of women with the most incredible and elaborate outfits, chanting prays, singing in support and looking like some kind of outlandish desert penguins huddling to keep themselves safe and in the wait of the storm to pass. Their red and green clothes stand out like a flame, like a desert flower in the middle of a dead land, like a proof of life. It gives great sense of community where “life and death seem to hang in a precarious balance�.
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nahtsajaR ,mrotS tsuD
“If you want to be a photographer, first leave home.” Steve McCurry
Design & Composition
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STEVE MCCURRY'S Composition Techniques – in his own words:
Travel light to avoid being weighed down Don't get bogged down in research Shoot in colour Overcome your shyness and ask to take
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portraits Get close into your subject to create intense and intimate portraits If a shot doesn't come together the first time, go back and try again Use framing devices such as windows or doors Follow the traditional rule of thirds Be patient and wait for the perfect moment Use the centre of the frame Plan your photography around the times of
...and lastly –
day the light is at its most flattering Always experiment with your images
“Remember, the composition is important,
Use leading lines
but also rules are meant to be broken,” Steve
Find a subject you really believe in
McCurry says. “So the main point is to
Embrace the journey
enjoy yourself while you’re photographing
Use photography to learn about the world
and photograph in your own way and your
Study the photographers of the past
own style.”
Composition Techniques
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RULES OF THIRD
LEADING LINES
Placing points of interest on intersections
Using natural lines to lead the eye into the picture
DIAGONALS
FRAMING
Diagonal lines create great movement
Using natural frames like windows and doors
...Continuation
OBJECT VS BACKGROUND
FILL THE FRAME
Finding a contrast between the subject and the
Getting close to the subjects and focusing on the
background
face
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DOMINANT EYE
PATTERNS AND REPETITION
Placing the dominant eye in the centre of the photo
Patterns are aesthetically pleasing. But the best is
gives the impression that the eyes are following you
when the pattern is interrupted
SYMMETRY
Symmetry always pleases the eye
RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN Learn and practice the rules so you can have fun breaking them and invent your own
0 “Some of the great pictures happen along the journey and not necessarily at your destination.� Steve McCurry
06 epilogue
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ARRESTING BEAUTY AND HAUNTING POLARITY
Through his strong style and photographic voice, Steve McCurry has created a powerful viewing experience. It has dramatic feel coming from the saturated colours, use of light and composition. His style essentially results in some form of empathy for the subjects he has portrayed. The paradox is that his images do have a distractingly beautiful quality to them. At the same time, the viewer is still quite aware of either the drastic circumstances of the natural disasters, warravaged places or the honesty of emotion the people in the images are confronted with. Steve McCurry's job took him from one corner of the world to another, through endless world conflicts or extreme natural disasters. Despite the gravity of distress and despair, he always has his eyes open to capture and to celebrate people's ability and willingness to overcome adversity.
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